Special Report

COVID-19: This is the Least Dangerous County in the Baton Rouge, LA Metro Area

Samuel Stebbins

Published: May 9, 2021 5:15 am

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the novel coronavirus continues to spread through the United States. To date, 32,167,970 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 572,987 have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world.

In the Baton Rouge metropolitan area, located in Louisiana, a total of 79,364 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 9,566 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — in line with the national rate of 9,832 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are closely in line with the national per capita infection rate in Baton Rouge, there are still parts of the metro area where the per capita infection rate is relatively low.

The broader Baton Rouge metro area comprises nine counties or county equivalents — and of them, West Feliciana Parish in Louisiana has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 1,160 infections in West Feliciana Parish, or 7,544 for every 100,000 people.

Though West Feliciana Parish has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Baton Rouge metro area, its per capita fatality rate is disproportionately high.

There have been a total of 221 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in West Feliciana Parish, above the 188 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Baton Rouge metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of May 6, 2021.

These are all the parishes in Louisiana where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).